Fried Dumplings and Soup at North Dumpling on the LES

There are nearly a dozen dumpling shops on the Lower East Side alone, not to mention those in Sunset Park and Flushing, and the vast majority now dispense four for $1. But North Dumpling is different.

This fulsome feed will cost you a nearly unbelievable $3.50.

Subscribing to the same price structure as when these narrow spots started popping up everywhere five years ago, North charges $1 for five, and the plate above shows a double order -- which is as many as one person is likely to be able to down in one dumpling-gobbling session.

The dumplings are filled with the standard chives and pork, but other versions are available, including a vegetarian one. The hot-and-sour soup -- which, a friend and I marveled, is exactly the same everywhere, as if piped in from Beijing -- is $1.50, and there's nothing better to warm you up on a chilly autumn afternoon. 27A Essex Street, 212-529-2700